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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Book for Drupal Module Writers
If you are looking for a "this is how up install and run Drupal, these are the modules that are available" look elsewhere (the Drupal site, for instance) - this book is about writing Drupal modules how Drupal works internally.
But, if you are an aspiring Drupal module writer or just want to better understand how Drupal works internally or want to be able to...
Published on April 26, 2007 by Kevin Dorff
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Good book, but DONT BUY NOW (It's for Drupal 5!!)
Just a little warning, don't buy this book (like I did), if you want to develop for Drupal 6.
Right off the bat I got in trouble, and even the first simple example won't work in Drupal 6..
So, I'm not complaining, but I was stupid enough to buy this just before version 6 got out, don't make the same mistake, read online-tutorials or find...
Published on April 25, 2008 by H. Sætra
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Book for Drupal Module Writers, April 26, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
If you are looking for a "this is how up install and run Drupal, these are the modules that are available" look elsewhere (the Drupal site, for instance) - this book is about writing Drupal modules how Drupal works internally.
But, if you are an aspiring Drupal module writer or just want to better understand how Drupal works internally or want to be able to tinker with existing modules you CANNOT go wrong with this book. It is very detailed, is incredibly well laid out and written. The examples are spot on. Very easy to understand and teaches you an incredible amount. I'm reading it cover to cover. I am about half way through and I couldn't be happier. It has answered pretty much every question I had about developing Drupal modules and extending existing functionality. I found some of the tutorials on the Drupal web site lacking in detail, this book IS the detail I was looking for. It covers Drupal 5.0.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Good book, but DONT BUY NOW (It's for Drupal 5!!), April 25, 2008
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
Just a little warning, don't buy this book (like I did), if you want to develop for Drupal 6.
Right off the bat I got in trouble, and even the first simple example won't work in Drupal 6..
So, I'm not complaining, but I was stupid enough to buy this just before version 6 got out, don't make the same mistake, read online-tutorials or find a book that's intended for the current version..
(Maybe hardcore programmers will still find this useful, but I could use example-code that works, and this doesn't, so you're stuck researching just about everything online anyway.)
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
A good developer's reference, December 17, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
Read the title carefully. If you are not a developer, a PHP programmer with solid MySQL background this is not your book. If you want to know how to extend Drupal with your own modules or contribute to the core project then get it and be happy.
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
Learning from the pros, April 15, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
A top-notch guide to the complexities of Drupal's APIs and development philosophy. Both Matt and John have been active members of the Drupal core development community since the early days, and their understanding of the system's breadth and depth is obvious. When consulting or training new Drupal developers, this is the book I point them to.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Drupal Essentials, May 21, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
I am a fan of Apress books in general, and this superb primer is no exception. VanDyk and Westgate have provided the Drupal community with exactly the book we needed: a concise but thorough explication of how Drupal works, oriented towards the working developer.
Drupal's online documentation is vast but sometimes difficult to navigate. Pro Drupal Development explains the system from the ground up, starting with a system overview and then working logically through key components. Users, nodes, blocks, theming, the Form API, custom modules, sessions, jQuery, best coding practices -- it's all here, with the concepts explained in clear language using relevant code examples.
Security tips and warnings about common mistakes will save time and developer angst. The many reference links guided me to several sections of the online documentation I hadn't found. And there's a lot for the team player in this book, too: tips on how to customize themes to make your designers' lives easier, for example.
The book explains but doesn't belabor. The jQuery chapter, for example, is short and sweet, giving you a taste of what's possible and then pointing you to the online documentation. These guys know what you need know if you're going to be an effective and efficient Drupal developer; the result is a lean text that gets you up and running quickly.
You could learn most, if not all, of what Pro Drupal Development presents by going to the online documentation, but it would take a whole lot longer and not be nearly as pleasant to learn. My copy is already well-thumbed, and is proving to be a useful daily reference in addition to a good, readable primer.
Highly recommended for anyone involved with or interested in Drupal, and a reference shelf essential for working Drupal developers.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Great for PHP developers, April 26, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
Great information for PHP developers who are new to Drupal. This is the book to get when you've decided you need to write your own module (or fix someone else's contributed module...) but can't quite get enough information in one place to figure out how to get started. It mostly covers module development, but there's good information on theming, too, including a basic step-by-step on converting an existing HTML/CSS layout to a Drupal theme.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Great Info, April 26, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
I have started moving an application from a VERY old version of Zope and the docs and articles on the Drupal website, although helpful were often hard to find, difficult to figure out what version the articles referred to, etc. I had preordered this book and have found the information much easier to use when it is all together in a nice logical order. I've already come up with several ideas for enhancing what I have already done from the information in this book. It is great for those of use trying to develop modules since it doesn't have all that "how to install this and that, etc., etc." which is information pretty easy to come by but instead has the technical information that is really useful!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A must of you are developing in Drupal!, May 22, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
John VanDyk and Matt Westgate do a great job in giving all of us a heads up when it comes to Drupal.
What is a Module? How does it integrate into Drupal (oh, that is called a "hook"). How do menu's work? How do I access a Drupal db? What are nodes? How can I create my own forms? Dude, I can create my own install scripts for Drupal!
Their examples are consistent (meaning that they start with one example concept and carry it through, using the information that you learned in a previous chapter and building on it) without falling into the dreaded "project" learning approach.
Instead, you learn about functionality using consistent examples in an organic (feel free to skip around) way.
Another boon is the fact that the authors explain the same thing in different chapters. For example, the first chapter starts you off with building a simple module. Then, in review, latter chapters use the same example to point out the nuts and bolts of existing functionality while adding pieces of functionality to it. Very smart in terms of learning: repetition and reinforcement.
The only con to this book is that there should be more!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Pro Drupal - Aha; but which version?, May 27, 2008
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
This book is strictly for version 5, which they conveniently forget to mention. The current version is 6, so if you buy this book as I did, it is practically useless, as they have significantly changed the Drupal API.
It would really be nice if there was a law requiring publishers of technical books to CLEARLY state on the cover the Version number.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
A much needed book, November 19, 2007
This review is from: Pro Drupal Development (Paperback)
It's surprising given drupal's popularity that there aren't more books covering it in detail. Site launches and contributions by the likes of lullabot and bryght have pushed the CMS' profile and recent releases have emphasised the Web 2.0 potential, but a quick look at amazon reveals only four related titles. Of the four, Pro Drupal Development is definitely the most developer focussed.
This isn't a book for a drupal newbie. Going in you'll want to have spent at least a little time setting up a drupal site or two, and while there's no need to be a PHP guru the authors do presume you're not going to need help understanding their code samples. They focus on drupal's internals, with a lot of time spent writing modules, understanding the user, node, menu, theme and related systems, and a little attention for performance optimisation.
There's a lot of ground to cover and most chapters are short, giving just the essentials on each area. You'll probably want to pause from time to time to try out the code samples unless you're already experienced at writing drupal modules. Having written a number of modules and run into various problems I found I was able to focus on the new information and how it would have affected my approach, but if this is new ground the structure of the book may make it rather overwhelming.
The writers are keen to encourage their readers to read the book in order, and some chapters certainly do build on their predecessors, but the real strength of this is likely to be as a reference guide. A quick once-through will help newcomers to module development get a sense of how everything fits together, but chances are you'll then want to refer back when you actually encounter problems that a given chapter can help with.
I was disappointed not to see more coverage of testing drupal code. As I've noted elsewhere, the lack of attention paid to automated testing in the drupal community frustrates me and it seems that for a book like this to not to provide some coverage of sensible testing regimens is a missed opportunity. Similarly, it would be really good to have some coverage of deployment tips, particularly relating to upgrading active sites. Both of those seem to me like core topics for any book purporting to provide a guide for professionals, but the priorities of the book mirror those of the drupal community where neither topic appears to be a significant concern.
For any experienced developer who needs to get to grips with the insides of drupal and/or write custom extensions, this book will be invaluable. The style won't suit those looking for a broader scope or lengthier tutorials, but it will help you get to grips with each of the major components quickly and provide enough information to set you on your way. Hopefully it will also trigger further writing about drupal, which may cover more ground and help developers bring some other vital practices to their drupal work.
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher.
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